After Ireland's hopes for historic consecutive Six Nations Grand Slams were put to a halt by England this week, Stephen Ferris is confident Ireland will do enough to overcome Scotland and win the championship for the second year running.
Marcus Smith's last minute drop-goal secured a dramatic win for England on Saturday in Twickenham. Meanwhile, Italy stunned Scotland as they gave them their first defeat in this year's Six Nations. Italy's win also marks their first home win in the championship in 11 years.
Here is Stephen's recap of both matches in the Six Nations, with a preview of Ireland v Scotland.
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Ireland v England
I think the post mortem of the Irish loss to England didn't take very long because England were the better side on the day. They left 10 points out there off the kick and tee and they physically dominated Ireland for the most part in the game and it was like a pendulum. The match swung back and forth, flip flopping back and forth.
Ireland would score, England would score and the match was constantly tight. But in the second half, when James Lowe scored his second try, I thought for all money that Ireland was going to be able to close it out. I think he put his arm out and waved to the Irish crowd and it was like, we're going to turn it up here a couple of notches and that just did not happen. It's not because Ireland couldn't kick on, it was because England just stopped them in their tracks. With the team that they picked, Ollie Chessum at number six, Itoje and George Martin in the second row, huge man, Ben Earl, man of the match, unbelievable performance. He was like Ardie Savea running around the Twickenham pitch. They really did get on top of us and suffocate us in our attack, and it was only that second James Lowe try that we felt that we were starting to pick a few holes. But apart from that, it was a really hard day.
There's been a lot of critics that have come out and blamed Conor Murray for not kicking long, and that he should have went into a kicking jam, and blaming Peter O'Mahony. They're saying the captain should have set a better example, not getting yellow carded, but you can blame whoever you want. There were 23 players that ended up getting on the pitch and nobody was able to take the game with the scruff of the neck. Nobody was able to put in a game changing hit, turn the ball over, or a crunch and tackle. It was all England, it was Freeman, it was Waboso, it was Ben Earl. You couldn't say there was one Irish player that really stood out. Maybe Bundee Aki for the first 15 minutes of the game. But apart from that, it just felt like more of the English players played better than most of the Irish players. We haven't said that in quite a long time.
Scotland v Italy
I think a lot of people were stunned by Ireland losing to England, but at the same time it was one that no one had ever seen coming, Scotland getting beaten by Italy, considering the record that they had. I don't think Italy had ever beaten Scotland at home in the Six Nations.
The whole chat of the weekend has somehow went on the Ireland game, even though they've still got an opportunity, they've still got an opportunity to win the championship this weekend. Scotland, for some odd reason, have sort of went under the radar from a media perspective, but I can tell you now that those Scottish lads are really hurting. I'm sure it's not embarrassing to lose a match, but it does sort of put a dent in your pride, let's say, when you've got a bit of a lead at home against a team that 99 out of 100 times you've beaten and you can't put them away. What's that going to do to their confidence? What's that going to do to their mentality? You're going into this game and it's two wounded animals- Ireland and Scotland going head to head here at the weekend. They're two teams that usually like to play.
Hopefully the weather is a lot better and they can throw the ball around a little bit. But you've got to fancy Ireland, it's 13 out of the 14 test matches that Ireland have won against Scotland. We are their bogey team, and I'm sure that is talked about among the Scotland camp because sooner or later they will beat us, sooner or later that will happen. But I just can't see that happening this Saturday in the second game of round 5. Just because of the 5 that Scotland have, I believe with a few sources close to the Scottish camp, there will be a couple changes in there. I just can't see them matching us physically and the way that we've been able to move the ball, especially at home. I think if we win it will be 18, maybe 19 wins in a row. So, that's All-Black stuff that we're talking about and hopefully we can keep that momentum going.
